Corner Brook’s Finton Gaudette offering snow volleyball to the community

Finton Gaudette is seen here at the European beach volleyball championships in the Netherlands during the summer of 2018. He was the court as court manager in the city of Appeldorn for the event. - Contributed

Chester, pepper and rainbow are some of the interesting terms used by players on a volleyball court.

It doesn’t matter if it’s in a school gym or on a sandy beach court, Finton Gaudette loves to hear them because he has a passion for the sport and continues to promote the sport wherever he goes.

Now, he wants to see if he can follow the lead of some European countries by introducing and growing another rapidly-growing version of the sport — snow volleyball.

Yes, snow volleyball.

Gaudette is the driving force behind a snow volleyball tournament being staged at Marble Mountain ski resort on Feb. 23. He hopes to have two courts operating with eight adult and eight minor teams participating in an event scheduled for a time when most volleyball players are available to play because it doesn’t conflict with their indoor schedules.

Snow volleyball is played with three players per side, but for this introduction to the game Gaudette has opted to go with co-ed teams with four players per side so the courts will be a little bigger than the regulation size.

“We’re trying to expose more people to the game,” Gaudette said.

Gaudette said the game is growing so fast in Europe that heavy consideration is being given to having snow volleyball deemed a demonstration sport at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and that is something he finds very exciting and a strong indicator of how the game is starting to catch on around the world.

He knows there are over 300 competitive volleyball players in the Corner Brook area so he expects snow volleyball will catch on at home just like it has in Europe.

A lot of the European countries, because their winters aren’t as frigid as Canada, have to resort to making artificial snow to offer snow volleyball. But, Gaudette knows this isn’t an issue in this neck of the woods because of big snowfall amounts so he wants to see how people react to a new version of the game.

“It’s new for me and I just want to provide an opportunity for people to play volleyball in a little different environment and see if it’s worthwhile,” he said. “I just love to see people playing the game.”

For more information about snow volleyball check out Corner Brook Beach Volleyball on Facebook.